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Dear family and friends of Shiffy and Benny, These trip reports and wonderful photos are sent by Shiffy and Benny from Internet Cafes whenever the opportunity presents itself. Not always the computer systems and keyboards out there in the Turkish countryside understand English very well...We all thank Shiffy and Benny for taking their time to share their wonderful experiences and adventures with us. |
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October 19 and 20, 2005 - Our Last Day in Seljuk, the Basilica of St John, Artemis the Ancient Anatolian Fertility Goddess, Visiting the Neighboring Village Sirince, Taking a Ten Hours Overnight Bus to Istanbul, Staying at Istanbul’s Paris Hotel...
Our last day in Seljuk, tonight we will take the overnight bus to our Grand Finally destination: Istanbul. We walked up the hill to see the Basilica of St John. It was built in memory of St John who came to Ephesus at the end of his life and wrote his gospel here. Above it on the hilltop is the citadel. It was constructed by the Byzantines in the sixth century and later rebuilt by the Seljuks. We visited an old mosque that was built in 1375, and I noticed the columns from the Hellenistic period and some of the stones in the wall were from earlier buildings. In town, we saw a large statue of Artemis, the ancient Anatolian fertility goddess. I saw the original in the museum, but photography is not permitted in the museum. We are taking a dolmush to visit a neighboring town, Sirince, it is 8 km east of Seljuk amid grapevines, peaches and orchards. The villagers moved here from Salonica and its vicinity during the population exchange in 1924. The town has a Greek feeling with many small wineries, making wines form various fruit. We enjoyed walking through the narrow streets and climbed to the top of the village where we stopped to eat our lunch. It is an earthquake country and we sat on piles of rocks that looked like marble with zinc or vermiculite. On the way down we stopped at an open air market where I took a note at a local fashion for women: wide baggy pants with busy print, printed blouse and a vest. Print on print and somehow it all works well together. Before leaving for the bus station, we stopped to say good bye to Alison. Tonight she is working at her restaurant, The Amazon Bar and Cafe. We met Alison's partner, a real Amazon, who almost broke my hand with her strong handshake. The bus is leaving at 9:30 pm and we will be in Istanbul by 7:00 am. Thursday, October 20 We took the overnight bus to Istanbul; about ten hours ride including three stops along the way. There are two young men who serve the passengers; I am already used to the routine: lemon colon, coffee, tea, soft drink. At around 5:00 am the bus entered a terminal to get on a ferry. There was a long line of large trucks, buses and smaller cars to get on. The trucks and buses and cars were parked right next to each other and when we were on the ferry and tried get off the bus we could barely pass between the vehicles. We took some photos from the deck, the light of the other side, even though we do not really understood why we were on a ferry and what was on the other side. Checking the map I later realized that The Sea of Marmara goes inland and it is more economical to take the ferry than to drive all the way around. I think that the ferry started near a city called Bandirma. We reached the outskirts of Istanbul after an hour. It was 7:00 am, Isbanbul was waking up and already congested with heavy traffic. Istanbul Otogar is a monster of a place, and with the help of a bus and the tram we managed to get to Sultanahmet, the area where we will stay. Lonely Planet warned us that your money does not get you much in Istanbul and we have to admit that our Paris Hotel is a real dump. We took a room on the fifth floor; it has a balcony and a great view. 86 steps lead to our room. No elevator. You have to think twice before leaving your room. You really don't want to forget anything and climb up again. First night, I could not steep, did not realized how narrow this double bed was and it was cold and the blankets are short. The next day we moved to the first floor, two separate beds, tiny room it has a TV. Benny enjoyed the men ice skating competition from Russia while I sat in the lobby enjoying conversation with the owner of the place and some guests. The owner asked me: “You like Paris Hotel?” "It's OK", I tried to be polite. Actually it is not so bad considering that it has a large lobby. Our standards for the trip are clean bed sheets, clean towels and warm water, the rest we ignore. So in addition to all this we have a TV, a large lobby and a free access to a computer. 16 million people live in this city. How do you manage a city so large with more people coming everyday in search for better future. The city is congested, air pollution is bad, and you risk your life every time you try to cross a street. I see multi-domed mosques on every hill; you go up and down, many hills in the city. We cross the Galata Bridge one way and come back via the Ataturk Bridge, we pass the University, the endless bazaar, the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sophia, the Topkapi Palace. We took the ferry across the Bosphorus and got a glimpse of the Black Sea. We went to Shabbat Service at Synagogue, to where thirty men drive for an hour in order to keep the place opened. They do not live in the area anymore. We are going to visit more synagogues and attend the big one on Simhat Torah. I will write one big story on The Jewish Community in Istanbul and another one on our Istanbul's visit. I miss the roosters, the vineyards, the orchards and the simplicity of the small villages. Back to main page and index of daily reports |
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The text above was written in the form of Email trip reports by Shiffy and Benny and arranged for web publishing by their friend Amnon with only minimal amount of editting...
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